This week in reading we will be working through week 4 of Unit 2 (Science at Play) in our LEAD21 program. The focus question for the week is "How can we explore the science behind fun activities?" We will spend time finishing up both Science All Around Us and Owl Moon in our theme readers. We will review all the vocabulary words for the unit this week. We will also be reviewing compound words and making predictions. In grammar, we will be learning about common and proper nouns, as well as the use of articles, like a and the. We will be finishing up our presentations for our Inquiry and presenting them to the class this week as well. The spelling skill for the week is 3-Letter Clusters.
In writing this week, we will finish up publishing and sharing our million-dollar essays, where we focused mainly on learning about organization. Then we will take some time to sort out narrative writing versus expository writing, before learning about our next piece, a news report. Can your child tell you the difference between expository and narrative writing? For math this week, we will finish up our study of area, working more on areas of squares and rectangles so that we can related area to multiplication. We will also incorporate area into a special art project this week. Then we will go back to multiplication, reviewing the concept of arrays before moving on to learning strategies for each factor. This week we will get to the rules for multiplying by 2. In science this week, we will review the parts of a flower that we learned about last week, as well as explore the life cycle of a conifer, or evergreen tree. Vision screening will take place this Thursday the 20th. Have a great week! In reading this week, we will be moving on to Week 2 in Unit 2 (Science at Play) in LEAD21. The focus question for the week will be "How does science create new ways to have fun?" New vocabulary will be observe, classify, and electricity. We will practice our summarizing skills for comprehension this week, and we will practice cause and effect, as we continue reading Science All Around Us in our theme readers. We will be learning about compound words this week, and in grammar we will review subjects and predicates. The spelling skill for the week is More Long i Words. We are at the point in our Inquiry project where we will organize all our research, synthesize new understandings, and check our conjecture.
In math this week, we will really be focusing on area in the short time that we have. Your child should be able to tell you what area means at this point, and how we can find it by counting square units. This week for writing we will begin a new personal narrative piece that will help us flex our organization muscles. Ask your child what he/she can tell you about "stoplight writing." Hi, everyone! Let me tell you about a great communication tool I am using this year. I can send out text messages to anyone who signs up for quick reminders about happenings here at school. Since it's all set up through a website, neither my nor your phone numbers are shared in the process, so all privacy is maintained. It's pretty great! Join our class on remind.com to get updates via text. Click here to sign up. Or get more information about remind.com here.
We will continue with Week 1 of Unit 2 (Science at Play) in reading this week, so the focus question and vocabulary will be the same as last week. We will work on cause and effect for our comprehension skill this week, and we will also study contractions. In grammar, we will work with simple subjects and predicates. The spelling skill for the week is more sight words. We will be working on researching for our Inquiry projects this week, and then on Friday we will learn how to organize and synthesize all our new information to check our original conjectures.
We will be working on a special writing project this week for Red Ribbon Week. It will be a descriptive essay about our drug-free futures. In math this week, we will continue practicing subtracting, and then we will move on to the concept of area. This week is Red Ribbon Week, and the themes are as follows: Monday is Hat Day - Put a Cap on Drugs! Tuesday is Western Wear - Give Drugs the Boot! Wednesday is Crazy Sock Day - We're Crazy About Our Future! and it doesn't include drugs! Thursday is Sports Team Day - Team Up Against Drugs Friday is Story Book Character Day - (with a twist...) Drugs Are Not in Our Character. Look for little slips of blue paper in your students' homework folders on Monday. These are informational pieces only, letting you know when your parent-teacher conference has been scheduled. Have a great week! We will move on to Unit 2 in reading this week, which is called Science at Play. The new theme question for this unit is "How does science help us have fun?" For week 1, we will be focusing on the question "What role does science play in sports?" Vocabulary for the week is force, energy, and technology. We will be learning how to summarize what we've read this week, and we will also be learning more about subjects and predicates in grammar. For our inquiry this project this week, we will be learning how to research a specific topic. The spelling skill is More Long o Words.
In math, we will be reviewing some skills in subtraction, as well as learning the concepts behind multiplication. Students should be able to show you how to solve a multiplication problem using two different strategies. We will begin a new piece in writing this week, and we will be learning about the trait of organization. We'll learn a method of organization called Stoplight writing This week is a busy one. We will be going to the Alberta Bair on Monday morning to see Schoolhouse Rock Live. We will have a quick earthquake drill on Wednesday, and Wednesday evening is Math Night here are Newman. Come on down for some fun, games, and prizes. We will also have a special assembly on Friday morning with Rusty from the videos students have watched in class. Have a great week! This week in reading we will be working through Week 4 of Unit 1 (Changes). The focus question for the week is "How do we change as we grow?" We will finish up Scaredy Squirrel in our Theme Readers, then go back and do some rereading of both this story and Growing and Changing to work on finding text evidence to support a text question. We will review inflected endings this week, specifically -s and -es, and the grammar skill is complete subjects and predicates. This will be a review week in spelling.
In math, we will continue working on strategies to add, including using base-ten blocks, and we will introduce the concept of regrouping. We still need to finish editing and publishing our first piece in writing this week. For science, we will check in on the little experiment we started last week, and begin reading about the life cycle of plants. Picture Day is first thing Monday morning (we were pulled before PE). Have a great week! This week in reading we will explore the focus question, "What changes can we choose to make?" We will finish up the nonfiction story in our Theme Readers called Growing and Changing. Then we will begin a new story to help us explore the theme of changes, a fiction story called Scaredy Squirrel. New vocabulary for the week will be familiar and prepare. As a comprehension skill, we will learn about making inferences as we read. In grammar, we will review exclamatory and imperative sentences - can your child tell you the difference between these two types of sentences? The spelling skill for the week is " More Long a and Long e Words."
In math, we will continue exploring and practicing place value concepts and mental math strategies. We will review mental math strategies to add as well learn how to use mental math to subtract. We will also begin our Do the Math program this week, which consists of grouping and rotations during a 35 minute block. In writing this week, we will continue revising, as well as edit and publish our first big piece of writing, a piece where students were given the freedom to choose their topic as well as their style of writing. In this piece, we were really focusing on the steps to the writing process - can your child tell you these steps? The Tears of Joy theater group will visit Newman School this week, and we will be attending that performance on Thursday morning. Also, remember to look for homework folders on Mondays. Work with your child to fill out their reading logs and practice their spelling words, and then help them remember to return the folder on Friday. Have a great week! |
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December 2015
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